Blogtober - Advice for New Bloggers

I'm super behind on my Blogtober posts...is anyone surprised?

So let's catch up by starting with the prompt for the 13th which was 5 Blogging Tips You Would Give a New Blogger. 

Here are mine:

1)  Don't take it all too seriously. It's just a blog after all. Just have fun with it. Don't enter into blogging wanting to become a big time blogger because that shows. Some newbies just reak of desperation, trying to become well-known and big. Just be yourself, be authentic, and have fun. If you become big time, that's great, but it shouldn't be your reason to blog.

2)  If you're a fashion blogger, don't do too many pictures of the same outfit. It's just tedious. I would say 5 max.

3)  Don't engage with GOMI. Just don't do it. Ignore ignore ignore.

4)  Don't talk about your employer by name. This makes me so super uncomfortable when people do this. I have actually had to talk to coworkers before at prior jobs and ask them to scrub the business' name from their tumblr. You don't want to be that guy, trust me.

5)  Don't act like an expert on random things. Not everyone is going to have a blog that is a specific niche, like beauty blog, fashion blog, cooking blog, etc. Us lifestyle bloggers don't have to try to become experts in things, that drives me nuts. It's okay to just be a general lifestyle blogger, you don't have to make a ton of lists trying to educate us on random things just to create content.

Did this post make me sound like a blogging bitch?

Too bad!

11 Questions

The super cute Lacy over at LacyMeeker.com nominated me for a Liebster Award!  Since you guys might be sick of me doing these at this point and I keep nominating hte same people and you know I love a good list, I figured I'd make it simple and just answer her 11 questions she did for her nominees.  Here they are and make sure you check out Lacy here!


1)  Why do you blog?  I started blogging a couple of years ago because I was unemployed and home alone all day and bored.  I've always loved to write and fancied myself a funny and creative person and I thought this was a good outlet for it!
2)  Is your main job blogging or do you have a "real job?"  I wish I was getting paid to blog, but I'm nowhere near that level!  I have no "real job" right now though so I do kind of treat blogging like a job and put as much effort as I can into it right now.
3)  If you could only eat one thing forever, what would it be?  CHEESE!
4)  Describe yourself in 6 words.  She is too weird for words.   (Nailed it)
5)  What is your cure for "bloggers block?"  If I run out of stuff to blog about, I'll enter a link up which helps give you a topic to blog about or I'll do a wishlist or a Pinspiration post.
6)  What is the best book you have ever read?  I love so many books, but my all-time favorite is probably In Cold Blood.
7)  Weird question...if you were something in nature (tree, flower, cloud, star) what you be and why?  I would probably be a flower because I'm delicate and dainty and get stepped on very easily and am not very strong.  Whew, that got dark!
8)  What is your favorite kind of music and why?  I love all music genres really, but my favorite since I was little is Broadway.  I love to sing and was raised going to and listening to musicals so it's ingrained in me.  I am so effing sad SMASH got cancelled.  Ugh.  (I need a life)
9)  What has been your favorite trip to ever take?  My honeymoon to London.  Amazing.
10)  Do you have a favorite lifetime memory?  What is it?  That's a tough one.  Probably sitting in that Indian restaurant the last day of our honeymoon.  We were just so happy and excited and everything was so new and just starting out.
11)  If you had one day to do whatever you wanted, money is no object, what would you do?  Why?  I would take everyone I know to Disneyland and buy out the whole park so it was just us.  My husband loves Disneyland so much and I think having it all to just us and our friends would be so fun and memorable and silly.  That would be a great day!  (Also I'd buy myself a lot of shoes)


Thanks again Lacy!!

Guest Post At Faux Fancy

Hey Guys!

Today I'm over at Faux Fancy doing a guest post on how you can recreate the trends for Spring of 2013 like this one!

Check it out here and show those girls some love!

On Blogging

I'm currently having a blogistential crisis.

I love blogging. I love letting out my thoughts, being creative, documenting my life, getting inspired, and connecting with random new friends. But sometimes I get bogged down with the crap of it all. The constant need for everyone to have as many followers as possible. The follow me and I'll follow you. The consumerism of it all. The not feeling as good as so many others. The pressure to make your blog into something; that you're not really a blogger if you don't have sponsors and affiliate links and go to blogger conferences and get free shit from companies. It makes blogging less fun. It makes it another way for you to feel bad about yourself. And competitive.

And I've decided I don't like that.

I don't want to feel bad when I look at other blogs, blogs I don't even really like, and realize they have thousands more followers then me.

I don't want to do posts that aren't me just because I think it will get me more followers.

I'm not sure what that means for this blog.

But for now, I'm going to just step away from trying and instead gain inspiration from bloggers who don't give an eff and blog just to blog.

And really, this blogging business isn't that serious.

We're not curing cancer here.

And I have a feeling if I stop caring so much, it will be a whole lot more fun.

/rant

I know you would Ryan, I know you would.

{via}

Liebster Award

The lovely Pinstriped Penguin nominated me for a Liebster Award and since I love lists and talking about myself, I couldn't resist!

Here we go!

Rules This award is given to new or up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers...the award is then passed along to other bloggers in the same category to help spread the word and support one another.  1. Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves. 2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you, then create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award to.  3. Choose 11 new bloggers (with less than 200 followers) to pass the award to and link them in your post. 4. Go back to their page and tell them about the award. 5. No tag backs. 11 Facts About Me 1. During the day, I only wear my wedding band, not my engagement ring and other band.  It weirds my husband out. 2.  I tear up all the time thinking about my dogs dying (sappy mess). 3.  I almost just wrote a fact about poo and chickened out. 4.  My favorite snack is goat cheese in between two slices of cheddar cheese. 5.  I drink my coffee black. 6.  I hate the taste of water. 7.  I never learned how to ride a bike. 8.  I collect Shakespeare's plays, especially the old and tiny little books you find at garage sales. 9.  I am horrible...downright awful at DIY. 10.  My favorite color is yellow. 11.  I'm always scared I'm going to trip and pierce my brain when using a q-tip. Questions from Pinstriped Penguin 1. Read any good books lately? Tell us about them. I recently finished The Devil in White City and it was GOOD.  I didn't realize it was non-fiction for like the first half of the book.  I also finished The Silver Lining Playbook which was pretty good and made me excited for the movie.  I'm currently reading The Hobbit because my husband loves it so much and we just watched the movie so I figured why not. 2. Do you have any pets? Yes!  Two fur babies Tuffy and Gizmo.  Written about here and here. 3. Where was your last vacation? For Christmas, we went to my dad and step-mom's in Virginia.  Before that we went to Vegas with some friends before we moved to the East Coast. 4. What's your favorite number and why? 22.  It was always my number in highschool sports.  I think it was my sister's too. 5. If you could be any animal what would you be? A pug.  He sleeps all day, farts whenever he wants, and eats whatever he wants and gets cuddles all the time. 6. What is your favorite show of all time? West Wing (nerd) 7. If you could live anywhere else in the world, where would it be? London hands down. 8. Favorite guilty pleasure show? Real Housewives anything.  God, they're awful. 9. How long have you been blogging for? Since 2009.  You can see my first post here. 10. What's something you've learned recently? Mittens are useless because you can't open a doggy poo dog while wearing them. 11. What's your favorite season? Spring.  You can still layer clothes and it's perfect for dog walking. My 11 Questions 1.  What is your favorite room in your house? 2.  How many states have you lived in? 3.  How do you take your coffee? 4.  What's your favorite movie? 5.  What is your favorite blog post of your own blog? 6.  What word do you most commonly find yourself overusing? 7.  What's a strange talent you have? 8.  What blog inspires you to keep blogging? 9.  What's your favorite piece of clothing right now? 10.  What song do you play the most on your iPod right now? 11.  How did you get the name of your blog? Bloggers I Tag In Her Boots A Peony For Your Thoughts The Artist & The Architect Bolu by Rima The Homebook I Have a Full-time Job...Meet My Husband Lady Employed Little Homes and Big Hearts My Creative Reality Pursuit of Pink Robertson Love

Liebster Awards

I ended up getting nominated for the Liebster Award twice this week...how fun is that? So I figured I'd go ahead and combine the two so you guys don't have to read 22 facts about me and you know...be bored to tears. In case you haven't heard of the Liebster Award, it's a blogging award passed around for smaller blogs like mine with less than 200 followers. Here are the rules:

1. Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves.
2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you, and then create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award to.
3. Choose 11 new bloggers(with less than 200 followers) to pass the award to and link them in your post.
4. Go back to their page and tell them about the award.
5. No tag backs


11 Random Facts about Me:
1) I am obsessed with Broadway musicals and spend most of my alone time in our house singing obnoxiously loud songs from Phantom, Les Mis, Cats, or anything from that show Smash.
2) My husband and I became friends my last year of highschool and there were two Mikes in that group and I always referred to him as "the mean Mike." This super freaked out my mom when we started dating 8 years later...you mean the mean guy?
3) I can type really fast. And I actually enjoy typing. I think it's because my parents made my sister and I take these typing tests on our computer at home when we were young and they included some kind of spaceship that would blow up sentences with mistakes. It was fun for us nerds.
4) I Google everything. I don't understand how anyone ever doesn't know something. Fricking Google it! I have almost yelled that at numerous clients.
5) I'm really bad at doing my makeup so I do the exact same eye makeup every single day.
6) I hate my hair no matter the length, cut, color, anything.
7) I would rather eat cheese than anything else in the world.
8) I talk about poo more than anyone ever should. And I find it hilarious.
9) I can puff my lips out like a horse and for some reason it really makes people laugh.
10) I didn't have my first kiss until I was 17.
11) I'm the easiest drunk ever. As in I get drunk easily, not the other meaning for that word. Hmmm I should re-word this...

Melissa's Questions for Me:
1. Where did you grow up? Ridgecrest, CA a tiny little town in the Mojave desert
2. If you could live anywhere where would it be? London. Even though it would probably be super stressful and loud and expensive, but oh I love it.
3. What is on your DVR at all times? Fringe, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, and my guilty pleasure the Real Housewives shows.
4. What are two things on your bucket list? Go to Australia and get a job I don't hate.
5. Where can you usually be found doing on the weekends? Hiking, watching movies, or drinking wine with my husband.
6. What's your favorite hobby? Reading and writing.
7. Are you guilty of watching reality shows? Which ones? Real Housewives! My husband HATES it. But seriously, they make me feel better for not being rich and thin because those bitches are crazy.
8. What is your favorite holiday and why? I love Christmas. I just love everything about it, the decorations, the music, the festivities, the presents (duh).
9. Do you have a favorite quote that is meaningful to you?
10. What is your favorite thing about blogging? Getting my thoughts out in the open rather than holding them in and connecting with people I would have never met otherwise.
11. Do you have a beauty product you cannot live without? I double layer my Cover Girl mascara. One layer not waterproof, then a layer of waterproof. It's the only mascara that has ever worked for me.

Ellissa's questions for me:
1. If you could be any character from the Scooby Doo gang who would you be? Scooby. Because he's a dog and all they do is sleep, eat, and poop. Also, I enjoy his voice.
2. What is your stress relief? Wine. Is that a bad answer? Also, Pinterest.
3. What's your favorite movie? I love so many, but Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Closer are pretty high up there.
4. If you could be any food what would you be? Cheeeeeese!
5. Where do you get your news from? Twitter...is that bad?! I follow all the news outlets on there and click on the headlines that interest me. The news is depressing, I have a hard time wanting to read it.
6. What nail polish color best represents your personality? Bright yellow.
7. Who is your biggest blog inspiration? Nat The Fat Rat
8. Describe your blog in one sentence. Nonsense.
9. What's your favorite non-domesticated (i.e. not a cat or dog) animal? I find sea lions adorable even though in reality they would probably bite my face off. But they're so fat and noisy, I want to rub their bellies.
10. If you could only visit one place, where would you go? London again or if it's somewhere I've never been, Australia.
11. What's your favorite season and why? Winter. I love bundling up in sweaters and fluffy socks and sitting in front of a fire. It's the most romantic season to me.

My questions for my nominees:
1) What has been the best meal of your life so far?
2) What book could you read over and over?
3) What is your favorite go-to piece of clothing?
4) What is the first car you had?
5) How did you start blogging?
6) What is the first blog you ever read?
7) What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you at work?
8) What is your favorite blog post from your own blog and why?
9) Who inspires you the most in your life right now?
10) What is your favorite thing about yourself?
11) What is your most annoying habit?

And my nominees are:

Jessica at Over Thinking

Courtney at Chase All Your Dreams

Beth at Dreams In A Poppy Field

Emily at Dirt Bikes & Diamonds

Amelia at The Homebook

Have fun and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

val

Distraction From My Distraction

I haven't felt like blogging lately.

I've been busy and stressed and sometimes I do get sick of the whole "follow me and I'll follow you" competitive, weird copy cat blog BS that's all over the internet.

Also, I've been watching a lot of tv and doing a lot of sitting on my butt.

But I will be back.

With less silly outfit posts and more silly lifestyle posts.

Until then, here is a picture of my husband taking a shower.

Enjoy.

Me, Myself, & I Link Up

I haven't felt super inspired to blog lately.

Not much has been going on.

Other than stressing about school and moving.

Which does not make for great blog posts.

Or attractive pictures.

So instead I'm going to join in on the Me, Myself, & I Link Up from My Beautiful, Crazy Life.

Here goes!

1)  When you're feeling down, what do you do to pick yourself up?

Lately, it's been Sex and the City Marathons.  I've been down because of stress and too much on my mind.  So I turn on that silly little show that every girl loves (and my husband just doesn't understand) and turn off my brain.  Puts me right with the world again.

{via}

2)  If you had to live in a different time period, which would you prefer?

My first instinct is to say the 50's because I would look really good in those clothes, I like not working, and (like everyone else on the planet) I'm a little obsessed with Mad Men.  Those are horrible reasons to pick a time period, but it's really all about the clothes isn't it?

3)  What is the most creative Halloween costume you've ever worn?

I usually come up with my costumes last minute because I'm cheap and really, a girl can just wear a bikini and call herself a hula girl.  Easy peasy.  But I'll go with this one.  It was worn to work so I couldn't be crazy or anything and it a nod to my favorite show at the time, The Office.

(this photo is really making me want to cut my hair again...)

4)  Five weird things we wouldn't know about you without being told?

1 - My knuckles aren't attached so they click back and forth and it's really creepy to feel.

2 - I can bend my wrist so far forward that my hand touches my forearm...also creepy.

3 - I can do the Little Mermaid singing voice spot on.

4 - I'm scared of going over bridges.

5 - I like to eat lemons just raw with salt on them.

5)  What would you tell your 16 year old self?

Stop being pouty, go for a run, and go flirt with some boys dammit!

Check out the rest of the MM&I links by clicking below!

Guest Post!

This has apparently been the week of the guest post.

Which is good because I've been busy and boring in real life.

So go check out my guest post on Read My Mind.

It's kind of a deep one.

And this picture is in it

So yeah, go do it.

Happy Thursday!!

val

Want It Wednesday!

This Want It Wednesday, I want you to check out my guest post over at the Mallzee Blog!

Do it!

Please?

Happy Wednesday everyone!

val

Liebster Blog Award!

Brittney over at The Sweet Life nominated me for a Liebster Blog Award, wahoo!

The Liebster is given to bloggers with less than 200 followers and it's meant to be a nice, welcoming way to get to know each other in this lovely little blogging community.

So here are the rules:

1. Each person must list 11 things about themselves.

2. Answer the 11 questions that the tagger has set for you plus you MUST create a set of 11 new questions for the people you will nominate.

3. Choose up to 11 bloggers linking them to your post.

4. Go to their page and inform them of the nomination.

5. Absolutely No tag backs.

6. Remember to only tag bloggers with less than 200 followers.

So here goes!

The 11 things about myself:

1)  I love cheese more than almost anything in the world.

2)  I constantly wake up in the middle of the night to make sure my dogs are breathing.

3)  I cannot handle my liquor.

4)  I think I'm funnier than I have any right to.

5)  I get super jealous when I see other people's weddings because I think I botched mine.

6)  I feel like I'm too old to show cleavage anymore (my husband hates that about me)

7)  I usually quit when things get tough so being in my last class for grad school is pretty scary.

8)  I am super self conscious despite what the massive amount of self portraits on instagram may make you think.

9)  I am not nearly as smart as people give me credit for, I'm just a good bullshitter.

10)  I do not think I'm lucky that my husband is a cleaning freak even though everyone else does.

11)  I'm a horrible driver.

The 11 questions Brittney gave me:

1)  What is one thing you are sure about?  My marriage.  100% and that took a long time for me to be able to say that.

2)  If you could visit one place, where would it be?  I really want to go to Greece.

3)  What brings you happiness?  Simple days when my husband and I are grocery shopping or just watching a movie in our pjs or walking the dogs.  Simple and relaxing things.

4)  Are you a day or night person?  Day for sure, I get tired at the end of the day and I look like ass after a whole day!  ha.

5)  Do you have any pet-peeves?  People that don't use their turn signals, people who don't say bless you when I sneeze, and people who are snobby.

6)  Why did you start blogging?  I was unemployed and bored and I like to hear myself talk!

7)  What is your favorite blog to read?  I love Nat the Fat Rat and Vicki Christine.  I love a ton, but those are my favs right now.

8)  Who do you respect the most?  My parents who both went to school later in life and did a great job with their lives despite a lot of obstacles!

9)  Do you have any hobbies?  Blogging of course, reading, and writing. (No time for hobbies with grad school!)

10)  Desktop or laptop?  Desktop!
11) What’s your favorite season and why?  Winter.  The more layers of clothes, the better!

11 Questions for the people I nominate:

1)  Besides blogs, what website(s) do you check daily?

2)  How long did it take you to tell your friends and family about your blog?

3)  What inspires you to blog the most?

4)  What is the best birthday present you've ever received?

5)  What food could you not possibly live without?

6)  What is your go-to piece of clothing in your closet right now?

7)  What blogger inspires you right now?

8)  What is your favorite word?

9)  What country are you dying to visit?

10)  If you could have any job, what would it be?

11)  What is your favorite ride at Disneyland?

And now, the bloggers I nominated!

Life As A Losey

Kate B McLeod

Whyyyjen

Pretty Living PDX

Bolu by Rima

A Deal's A Deal

Fourth and Fashion

Thanks so much Brittney and have a great Tuesday everyone!

val

New Buttons

Just a quick post to show you guys my beauuutiful new blogger buttons done by V over at Vicki Christine.

She rocks guys.

She also has a giant baby bump right now that I really want to poke.

Even though I don't know her.

And I'm not sure if that's rude.

Is poking the baby bump okay?

I poked an actual baby in the cheek today.

She didn't really like it.

Moving on...

Check out my cute new buttons and if we're doing a button swap...please update them!

Thanks!

val

 

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Feature!

Hey Guys!

Today I've got a tiny little feature over at Swenson Love talking about my perfect summer.

Check it out here!

Search Me

THIS just made my day, some search keywords that lead people to my blog recently:

Search Keywords

bow ties for men

7

funny rsvp wording

2

song choice rsvp card wording

2

titaniboa

2

dress+grab my button

1

iron on bridesmaid

1

Oh how I love this weird little blogging world...

Cupcakes & Hugs For Everyone!

Can we just talk about how much I've been freaking the freak out that I have 23 followers and have been getting so many comments!  

I just want to bake you all cupcakes covered in extra frosting and give you each hugs.

I'm a hugger, if you're not that's cool, you can just have the cupcake.

Here is my creepy happy/excited face just for all you lovelies who checked out my weird little blog and made my day.

(Please don't unfollow me just because of that picture)

It's Okay

I looked at these photos after we took them and was crestfallen.

These are pretty darn awful.

In my head, my hair looked like this:

Natalie at Nat The Fat Rat

But alas, it does not.

In my head, my poses look like this:

Sidney at The Daybook

But again, they do not.

In my head, my outfits always look like this:

Kendi at Kendi Everyday

But of course, they never do.

These three girls above are three of my favorite bloggers.

Their outfits, their words, their lives inspire me.

They are funny and pretty and just so many things I wish I was.

And normally, looking at my pictures and comparing them to the ones above would make me sad.

I'm coming out on the bottom people, these ladies are crushing it.

But you know what, my hair, my poses, my outfits aren't that great, but it's okay.

I'm funny and weird and I've got a great rack (well I do).

And it's okay.

That's kind of a big deal for me to say.

Just had to get it out.

So enjoy my awful outfit photos, school marm is in didn't you know?

Dress (worn as a top):  Macy's (it's missing a button if you didn't notice)

Belt:  Anne Taylor Outlet

Skirt:  Gift, Windsor

Shoes:  Nine West Outlet

P.S.  Wearing a dress as a skirt is fun because you can fake flash people at work all day!